ii. 𝕹𝔞𝔯𝔠𝔦𝔰𝔰𝔞
( 𝕸𝔦𝔡𝔫𝔦𝔤𝔥𝔱 𝕺𝔦𝔩 ! )
TWO: NARCISSA
❛ Discoveries & Revelations. ❜
⋆ ﾟ 𐦍༘⋆ ﹏﹏﹏﹏𓆗 ⊹ ࣪ ˖ﾟ🜲.
Lady Narcissa Black of House Malfoy could not help the anxiety that built within her, eating away at her nerves. It had been hours since her elder sister Bellatrix had left for Grimmauld Place to answer Aunt Walburga's summons. The guests who had practiced the ancient Imbolc rituals at the Malfoy Manor had already long left, and she'd just put her baby boy, Draco, to bed. It was dark now, and Narcissa was losing her patience.
What could Aunt Walburga have possibly wanted from Bellatrix that it had taken nearly all day? Bellatrix had missed breakfast, lunch, and now dinner, which left Narcissa reeling. Bellatrix had not left her side since her divorce from the Lord Rodolphus Lestrange. Though Bellatrix had maintained her dignity by divorcing the lout bastard rather than allow the humiliation of her husband taking on a mistress while still married, one which would certainly birth the Lestrange heir, it was still considered quite scandalous and almost shameful that Bellatrix was now a divorcée. However, Bellatrix had properties gifted to her as a member of the Black family, as well as what she had taken from her divorce from Rodolphus, and yet all this time she had stayed at Malfoy Manor, instead of hiding out in one of her own properties to avoid their parents and peers, because Narcissa had wished for her to stay.
After everything that had happened during the war, Narcissa had not wanted to be parted from her elder sister. They had lost too much not only in the war, but before that, as well. If she had lost her sister, she would have been but a shell of herself, because it had been painful enough to lose Andromeda and Sirius and Regulus. She couldn't lose Bellatrix— not her, too. Not the sister who had always battled away the monsters and scared away her nightmares, who shielded her from the worst of the war and kept her grounded and sane when she had been pregnant with Draco. A small part of her also wished for herself and Lucius to keep an eye on Bellatrix in the aftermath of the war, to ensure she did not get up to any trouble that would actually lead her to Azkaban. But it had been months since that jarring November first of 1981, and as of this very late night on February first, 1982, it had only been a little over a month since the conclusion of all of the speedy trials that had taken place of convicted Death Eaters— of which her Lucius, Bella, and several others had been able to walk away from mostly unscathed.
"Narcissa, my love, if you pace any longer we'll be needing a new carpet." Lord Lucius Malfoy mused from his spot in bed, reading a book, but glancing up at his wife worriedly.
Narcissa ignored his attempt at humor, instead continuing to fret, "What if something happened?" She began to wring her hands together, "What if she was arrested by aurors?"
"If she was, my darling, we would have been informed." Lucius sighs, moving to his wife and placing a hand over hers. Truly, if anything on the magical law side of things had occurred, they would have been notified. With Lucius' connections in the Ministry and his seat as a Lord of the Wizengamot, nothing could ever truly officially occur without him knowing about it.
"Even so," Narcissa disregards, finally falling upon a decision. "I must go see them at once."
"Dearest wife," Lucius begins, incredulous. "The hour is already quite late. You need to sleep, you've been worried this whole day. Allow yourself to rest before whatever machinations those two have been up to in the morning."
"I cannot, Lucius," Narcissa whirls on her husband with teary eyes. "I cannot sleep while my sister's whereabouts are unknown. I lost much already, I will not lose another."
"Blacks and their melodramatics," Lucius mutters humorously, much to the ire of his wife, who sends a light stinging hex at him— meant more as a nudge than to truly hurt or harm; akin to throwing one of her precious pillows at him. "Fine, fine. If you will not put it to rest, at the very least allow me to escort you."
"Oh, Lucius!" Narcissa almost swoons, as she grins up at him with that beautifully bright smile of hers, the tears still making her eyes shine like blue-grey gems under the amber light of their rooms. She presses a sweet kiss to his cheek, and makes to pull away to get dressed more properly, but he's quick to pull her back in and steals a much longer kiss from her lips.
By the time the two of them were more properly dressed to visit Narcissa's aunt and the reigning Lady of the House Black, it was now 22:00 at night. Taking a handful of the green dust used for flooing, the married couple stepped into the fireplace and spoke the name of the place they wished to visit, as well as the password.
Arriving in emerald green flames, Narcissa and Lucius stepped out of the grande fireplace in the sitting room, anticipating both Lady Walbruga and Bellatrix to be there to greet them, since Walburga had allowed them to be keyed into the wards and to pass. Even when one had the password, sometimes the Lady or Lord of the house were allowed to reject visits. In that case, the magick used to transport them to their destination would simply not work.
What they had not expected, however, was to be met with Lady Walburga by herself. She sat before them in her favored chair of the sitting room, like a queen on a throne facing her court. She had a tea cup resting on his saucer in her hand, stirring the hot contents with a small silver teaspoon.
"Lord Malfoy," Lady Walburga nodded to him, before turning to Narcissa, "Lady Malfoy, well met. What brings you calling upon my home at so late an hour?"
"Well met, Lady Black. I'm afraid you've left my wife to worry over her sister after your summoning of dear Bellatrix." Lucius explained.
"Merry met, Lady Aunt." Narcissa curtsied as was customary, "If you would be so kind to answer my inquiry. Where is my sister...?" Narcissa asked softly, curious, looking around and straining her ears for any noise to indicate Bellatrix was here. Only to find none.
"Bellatrix is out running an errand for me." Lady Walburga explained away vaguely with a wave of her wrist, gesturing to the chairs near for them to take seat. "She should be back soon."
Lucius escorted Narcissa into the chair closest to Walburga, helping her get situated, before taking his own seat. Just in time, too, as they did not wait long before Bellatrix came bursting back into the house like a true storm. "Oh, by Morgana herself! Auntie! I've found her!"
Lucius' dark eyes narrowed, as he stood up, now that Bellatrix was in the room, "Found who?"
Walburga, undaunted by the younger lord, kept her eyes on him. As if he could challenge her, she was a Lady of the Most Ancient and Noble House Black! Narcissa felt must have been her Lady Aunt Walburga's thoughts solely based upon her rather extensive knowledge of the woman and the way her sharp eyes narrowed, looking down her bridge at Lucius, even though she was much smaller and currently sat in a chair before the Lord and Lady of House Malfoy.
Bellatrix froze as she came upon the sitting room, finding not only her aunt but also her sister and brother-by-law. "Cissy, Lucy, what brings you here?"
Narcissa stared at her elder sister in disbelief, standing up from her own her chair. "Bella, why do you have a baby?! Where did you get the child?!"
Equally dumbfounded by the absurdity of the situation they had all found themselves in, likely, Bellatrix glanced at Walburga, fleetingly, before turning back to her sister, calmly. It was the most calm she had seen her sister in months. "Cissy, I need you to remain calm. There is a very reasonable explanation for all of this."
Lucius was the one to bark out a laugh that was almost half a maddened scoff, "There better be, Bella! Otherwise, you'vekidnapped a child! Do you know how easily the aurors would descend on all of us should word of this get out?!"
Walburga wanted none of this outrage, though, and simply explained, in that usual raspy, yet commanding voice of hers. "This is to be my heir."
Which definitely took the wind out of all of their sails, save for Bellatrix, who Narcissa observed held tightly to the child, sleeping as they were and clinging to Bellatrix. Bellatrix was cradling what appeared to be a toddler close to her chest, holding her the proper way that she had shown her when Bellatrix was learning to hold their dearest Draco. The child itself, though with their head turned away from them, all Narcissa could make out was the back of their head, had wisps of pretty blonde hair, like spun gold. A much brighter pigment than the silvery platinum of Lucius and Draco's hair or the pale gold of Narcissa's own hair.
Narcissa glanced back towards Walburga, before focusing her attention on her sister. "Who is the child, Bella?" She asked calmly.
"An illegitimate daughter of Sirius," Bellatrix informed them, cradling the child closer to her. "She is to be legitimized and brought into the family fold as my child, the heir of House Black."
Lucius went on to bicker and rant and rave with Walburga, who matched his ire and fire with just as much enthusiasm, never one to black down, but Narcissa moved closer to her sister and the child, instead. Distantly, she knew Lucius was protesting, his own distrust over Bellatrix's more unstable and flighty habits posing a genuine concern for this child's well-being. But Narcissa was not worried, not in the least. She knew her sister had always wanted a child, more than just out of duty. Bellatrix had been denied what she had always wanted and each violent end to her pregnancies had pushed her further and further over the edge until the stillborn of Corvus Lestrange had thrown her into the pool of insanity and grief.
Keeping her face open and inquisitive, she considered her elder sister. For all that Bellatrix could be unstable, with fickle, ever changing moods like the flame of a candle, she appeared quite grounded at the moment, more focused on the child than anything else. Perhaps this may be a good thing, for all of them.
Easing closer, Narcissa glanced down at the darling child that seemed to be clutching at the fabric of Bellatrix's robes, dark as they were. She remembers these robes as one of her former hunting and raiding outfits back during the war, before her pregnancy with the tragic, beloved Little Corvus. Narcissa spoke to her sister lowly in the background of whatever row or debate Lucius and Walburga were having, "You are certain she was sired by Sirius?"
Bellatrix smiled down at the child, "She is a moonflower. A white morning glory in bloom."
Narcissa's breath caught in her throat at the implication. So she had already appeared on the tapestry! "Where did you find her? Who was the mother?"
Bellatrix, then, had the decency to look a little sheepish as something suddenly occurred to her from Narcissa's line of questioning. "A muggle orphanage. She was dragged to the gates and thrown out by this horrid woman. Admittedly, I do not know the origins of her birth mother. I'll have to go back to collect the information in their records and make sure none try to come looking for her, but isn't she just darling, sister?"
Narcissa took in her sister in shock. It was not much of a surprise that a loose end had been left, as sometimes if Bellatrix became too focused on a goal, some things were rather left forgotten in the what of the moment. No, it made sense that in finding the child, she would focus solely on getting the child back to safety, especially if they had been left in the care of religious muggles.
Narcissa quickly recovered and looked down at the child in Bellatrix's arms. She had a cute face, it seemed, squished into Bellatrix's bosom and sleeping so peacefully. She wondered if the child would look more like Sirius, or the child's mother, or even perhaps like one of them? Clearly the blonde hair had been an inheritance from the mother, but what of her eyes, in shape and in color? What of her nose and lips and cheekbones? her brow or jawline? She couldn't wait to properly meet the child.
"She's quite darling, dearest Bella. It brings me much pride and joy to see you have a hatchling of your own." Narcissa placed her hand upon Bellatrix's forearm, squeezing the flesh comfortingly, supportively, affectionately.
Bellatrix sent her the softest smile she had seen from her elder sister in years. Perhaps not since before Corvus had been stillborn, yet even then it had been marred by exhaustion and tentative worry. No, perhaps the last time she had seen her sister smile at her so tenderly and happily, full of light and hope and happiness, was when they'd been but girls. Speaking of dreams and Hogwarts and their hopes for the future.
After a moment basking in the warmth of their rarely tender, sisterly moments, Narcissa changed the trajectory of their conversation. "Once things have settled, we shall attend to those loose ends you've spoke of at once." Narcissa spoke gently to her dearest sister. Then, she straightened out her spine and pulled her shoulders back as was only proper of a Lady of a Great House such as hers. "Now, have you checked her over? Is she well? Harmed at all by those muggles?"
Bellatrix struggled to answer, not at all sure. "When I came upon her, she was admittedly being disciplined by one of those nasty nuns... but I could not say the extent of such abuses."
So Narcissa took the lead, placing her hand along the child's forehead. Only to pull her hand back in shock, "Bella, she's running a fever!"
"What?!"
Immediately, the spat between Lady Aunt Walburga and Lucius was forgotten, called to a ceasefire, as their sole focus, with hers and Bella's, settled on the unknowingly ill child in Bellatrix's arms. The fever was hot on her skin, but considering the leathers and layers to her sister's robes, it was unsurprising she had yet to notice. Especially once they had escaped the cold winter night.
"Hurry! Go find a room to place the child in, and heal her!" A frantic Lady Walbruga commands, rasping voice shaking in her fear for the child.
Narcissa was quick to summon an elf to find her healing kit back at the Malfoy Manor and bring it to her. She then took the arm of her sister and began to lead her along the familiar staircase of Grimmauld Place, a place in which they had spent many days and nights in their childhood. "Come, sister, let us find a room and check her over."
⋆ ﾟ 𐦍༘⋆ ﹏﹏﹏﹏𓆗 ⊹ ࣪ ˖ﾟ🜲.
The fever would have been fast to cure, if not for the state of the child she had found after her scan. She still could not take her eyes away from the parchment that had listed all of which was diagnosed from her full-body scanning spell. Now more so than ever, had she been relieved by her aptitude and time mastering the healing arts. She may not be a warrior like her sister, or even a professionally hired healer like their wayward sister, or a politician like her aunt and husband, but she was skilled in her craft, and dedicated jot only to the healing arts but the rituals of the family, steeped in the blessings of the nature that had granted then power.
Such natural power and blessings went hand-in-hand with the healing arts, and even in the potions craft. She had never been misguided or failed in her healing endeavors, only blessed by to have the best of herbs and lucky in her more risky spells and operations— admittedly more so back during the war than before; even if she had not been marked by the Dark Lord, she had been a useful healer in their order, their house a safe haven for many injured in the war. Even so, now as she healed the child that was to be their house's heir... she was grateful for all of the blessings their Old Ways had bestowed upon her now.
Finding in her scan the not only have the child faced regular starvation, a few mended sprained joints and bones, and clear bruising over the child's hands, both the backs and the palms, and on her bum, it was clear that the child had suffered under long term abuse by the so-called nuns of the orphanage.
If Walburga's ranting about feeling sparks was anything to go by, the Lady of the House had been feeling the sparks of this child's magic, first when she was born, as all births of magical children created that spark regardless of magical abilities or lack thereof, and the next few times due to instances of accidental magic. Astounding, as most children did not showcase any instances of accidental magic until they were well into their toddler phase or older.
Which meant that, due to the age and nature of some of the injuries found in her full-body scan of the child, that the abuse had begun with the emergence of the sparks of accidental magic. Horrifying to find, really, because if things went on any longer or got worse with age, then the child would more than likely be on the verge of taking on such an unsteady form as becoming an obscurial at any moment.
Even if the child was not a Black, it was good that she was saved from that toxic situation. No magical child deserved to be punished for something that in most wixen families was celebrated. It was a wondrous occasion when a child of the blood began to show their magic. It was a sign that nature had not abandoned them in their newest generation, that the bonds to their magic through nature, that which had blessed them, was still strong.
Eventually, Walburga and Lucius had finished bickering and came to an agreement of sorts. Lucius would fulfill the magical end of the legal paperwork to weave this child into the fold of their family. Bellatrix and Narcissa would, at a later date, see to it that the proper paperwork on the Muggle side was found, and if needed, erased. That was solely dependent on the situation they found themselves in when they went back to the orphanage.
Now, in the early hours of the morning of February second, 1982, the small child was resting in bed with Bellatrix holding her in her arms. Dressed in a better, softer material of a child's nightgown, with their hair washed and neatly, softly brushed, by Bellatrix herself, and everything either healed or bandaged to finish healing. All that was left was the fever that was now slowly going down, but not quite yet to disappear.
Her elder sister was in her own world, singing softly to the child an old lullaby their father once sang to them, leaning against the headboard of the plush bed, looking the most sane she had ever been in years. It was a marvel, to see her elder sister as she had always remembered, not as she had become in the aftermath of the war. The child was a true miracle to this family, to her sister, and Narcissa could not wait to see what more this child had in store for their brightening future.
Bellatrix had been right, too, she was a darling child. A beautiful girl, who seemed to have only inherited all the good parts of their family. While she may not have looked like a proper Black in coloring, for she had honey-golden blonde hair and the most sparkling and dazzling, vivid blue eyes she had ever seen, her facial features were mostly all of the Black family. If save only for the soft slope of her nose and the softer shape of her jaw and chin. But she was but a babe, and children often changed in their appearance as they grew. There was still time yet to see who she looked like most in their family.
And whatever was to happen in the Black Family's Old Magick Blood Ritual from one of their many family Grimoires Walburga and Bellatrix were to put her under was sure to have an effect of its own on the child's looks. To not only make her blood purely Black, in some respects, but also to adopt her into the family as a legitimized member under the magical guardianship of her new mother and Lady Regent, Bellatrix Ione Black.
Lucius came around behind the chair Narcissa sat in, embroidering to pass the time as Bellatrix and the child both napped in the large, luxurious bed. He placed a chaste kiss on the top of her head, at her temple, and then at her cheek.
Narcissa smiled fondly, leaning back in the comfort of her chair and her husband's casual embrace. "How wondrous it is," Narcissa whispers, "To have another child in the family."
Lucius is silent for a moment, before he nods in concession. "My only regret is that it is to be Bellatrix's child and not one for your own."
"We have Draco." Narcissa whispers, but she does feel her eyes burn with the sting of tears better left unshed. "I believe that must be enough for us, my love."
They had tried everything, save for adopting a child themselves. But even now, that would not have been seen kindly by the Light Leaning Ministry, who would have never permitted the Old Magick of their Blood Rituals to take in the child and make them of their own blood. Had the Dark Lord not lost his mind and turned them on a much more sinister path of destruction, and had they won the war, perhaps things could have been different. But as it was, save for a miracle, Draco would simply have to suffice as their sole heir.
"Once you and Bella get the muggle paperwork, I will go to the Ministry to get the magical side of things legalized and have a friend file it all away. I'll even backdate things to cover any tracks we may have to hide." The words were left unsaid, but the meaning was clear. One can never be too careful.
Narcissa nodded, before turning and caressing her husband's jaw, holding his face in her hands and pressing a kiss to his lips. "You should go home and rest, darling. Contact Severus, and ensure the preparations for the ritual are conducted. I wish to stay, at least until the child's fever breaks."
"I insist you come home with me." Lucius whispers into her cheek as he presses another kiss to it. "The work has been done. Now all that is left for us is to wait. Bellatrix, for all that I loathe to admit it, will be fine with the child on her own."
"Yes, Cissy, go." Bellatrix speaks up sleepily, her eyes remaining closed, but it was clear she was awake, if only barely. "Aunt Walburga and I should be fine with the wee babe. You should go home and rest, tend to your house. We will be okay."
"Oh, alright," Narcissa sighs as she makes to stand up, dusting off her skirt. "I'll be by on the morrow, to ensure all is healing well. We must wait until the half moon to do the ritual, so we have until March to get all the needed paper work."
"Yes, sweet sister, I know," Bellatrix groans out slightly. "And if her fever does not break, I will summon you back. Worry naught, I would never allow the child to come to harm."
"Of course," Narcissa huffs out in amusement, pausing in the doorway to look back at her elder sister. She speaks warmly, voice soft but her heart meaning ever word she speaks, "Congratulations, sister, on your impending motherhood. I wish you only the best, and know that I shall always be here for you to help."
"Thank you, Cissa."
"Good night, sister."